Foreigners made friends

Reflecting on a night in Ghana forever etched in my brain + some exciting news !!!

My head almost collided with the ceiling of the bouncing car. After readjusting myself, I looked out the front windshield and saw the dimly lit boulders in our path. How was this car going to get there in one piece? I looked to my left and strained to see through the darkness of a typical African night. After focusing my eyes, I made out a dark sea of rolling grass. Jerking my gaze to the road ahead while flailing to grab the seat in front of me, my eyes registered that the tall grasses that once stood a safe distance back were now swallowing up the way we were traveling on. The used-to-be road had become nothing more than a beaten path as we climbed deeper into “the bush.” 

I thought to myself, “If only my parents knew what their daughter was up to! They would have a stroke!” On second thought, it was best they didn’t know.

A separate glimmer of light caught my eye as I strained to see through the blackness of night. Our fearless guide- a Jesus Film Rider- had circled back and was waving his arms to ensure we could still see him on his motorbike as he led the way to a village that was expectantly waiting for him and the treasure he brought. Little did they know the circus coming behind him.

After carefully navigating the rocky path for what felt like ages, the reverberating beat of a drum signaled to me that we were close. I looked around at the other faces in the car. We were all thinking the same thing. What were we about to happen upon?

The tall grasses that had once threatened to swallow us suddenly retreated as we entered a clearing. The headlights of our vehicle splashed on a group of people dancing and circling artfully to the lively music being created on banging drums. 

The lights of the car immediately drew their attention and a few left to curiously inspect the large hunk of metal intruding on their fun.  

The car came to a halt and the circus of white people piled out. If we didn’t have their attention before, we had it now. A small crowd gathered around us as much of the drumming and dancing carried on. 

Our guide disappeared in the crowd leaving us to wonder at the scene in front of us, just as those who made up the scene wondered back at us. There was no way to communicate other than a wave of the hand which some eagerly and others cautiously returned.

Our guide emerged from the sea of dancing people and explained that the film we had come to show was having technical difficulties and that he was going to try a few more things before resorting to Plan B. “What was Plan B?” I thought. But before I could ask, he was gone, leaving us under the increasingly intense and curious stares of the villagers around us.

“Who are these foreign people?” I’m sure they thought.

A chasm seemed to lie between us due to our inability to communicate.

The small crowd that had surrounded us became larger and larger and with it any hope of getting their attention on the Foreigner who actually mattered, seemed to diminish. But suddenly, our guide launched into Plan B and easily regained the attention of the people.

The music stopped abruptly and a picture flashed onto a screen he had set up. Turning their heads, the people saw a man– A man many had never even heard the name of. This man was wearing a crown of thorns, and he was hanging from a cross. The people gathered around this foreign picture and with the help of a translator, our guide introduced the great Treasure hanging before them. He introduced to them this Foreigner named Jesus. 

As we listened to the passionate preaching of our guide, we marveled at the rapt attention of those he beseeched. With eyes, bouncing from the man speaking to the man hanging on the cross, these people were becoming more and more familiar with this Foreigner. 

As the elaborate story of the life, death, and resurrection of their new acquaintance came to an end, our guide closed with the invitation to go beyond the pleasantries of an introduction to a personal relationship with this humble, sacrificially loving man. 

Suddenly, hands outlined by the glow of the picture in front of us, rose, signaling their response to accept this Foreigner, Jesus, as Lord and Savior of their life!

What an incredible scene I was witnessing! My rejoicing heart joined the angels in heaven as I took it all in. 

After prayer and making arrangements for those who confessed faith to be discipled, the Jesus Film Rider turned the people’s attention to the odd strangers still behind them and continued with his introductions. As he explained where we were from, he remarked that we had come all the way from America to share God’s love with them. And that we had.

He invited the crowd to draw near and the distance that existed when we arrived completely evaporated. What felt like hundreds of hands surged toward us as we tried desperately to hold each one. I was so overwhelmed that I felt I had no words to say. But, as we climbed back in the car, impulsively I shouted “Jesus loves you!”, knowing they might not be able to understand the phrase but hoping the name of Jesus, this Foreigner made Friend, would resonate deeply in their hearts forever.

–

It’s been over a year since that memorable night. 

I will forever recall it to mind with such vividness and hold it in my heart with such tenderness. 

I remember laying in the African dirt looking up at the unpolluted sky with its crystal clear stars and marveling as David once did, 

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”– Psalm 8:3-4

So deeply and so intimately does the Maker of the moon and the stars care for mankind. He makes that love known to us ultimately through His Son whom He sent to die on our behalves. 

And He has commissioned us to carry this great, undeserved love to the ends of the earth.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” Matthew 28:19

What a joy it was to see how the Jesus Film Riders do just that! It is my prayer and my hope that ALL those whom these wonderful guides encounter would welcome the Foreigner and allow Him to permanently take residence in their hearts as a Friend.

–

Oh, and one more thing!

I’m going back!!! EEEEEEEE

Last week, my advisory team officially approved my going to Ghana this summer with a group from one of our partner churches! We will be going in early July for 7-10 days.

I really can't believe I get to go back… This past year I dedicated my life to furthering the work happening in Ghana that brings the name of Jesus to those who have never heard it… and I get to go back and see those beautiful faces. What an incredible gift…

Thank you, Lord for making a way for me to go back to this country I love! You are so kind to me.